THE reopening of primary schools in York and North Yorkshire has gone well - according to the chair of the resilience forum.

Speaking at a Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) meeting, Richard Flinton said just under half of the primary schools in the region had reopened on June 1 - with other due to follow in the next few weeks.

He said: “Many schools felt they needed to put more measures in place rather than a lack of willingness to open. Clearly not all parents are sending their children in yet – we will leave that to parental discretion. It’s not an issue of being chased, from a local authority view. It’s a good start.

“I think there was a feeling that the openings had gone well in York.

“134 primary schools [went] back, that’s just a fraction under 50 per cent. Others will open I think in the coming weeks."

Julia Mulligan, PFCC, added: “It’s something people will want to feel comfortable about and grow in confidence about."

Five initial sets of PPE have been distributed to the majority of schools to ensure they have supplies in place as they begin wider re-opening.